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PC Gamer, Developers Talk Fallout: New Vegas

Last week, Bethesda and Obsidian gave us a rough release date and the first teaser trailer for the next installment in the Fallout series. Today, the game's developers have emerged from the vault to provide a few details about New Vegas.

Next month's issue of PC Gamer kicked off the Fallout frenzy after a few lucky subscribers received their issues in the mail a bit early. In response to the early release date and the atomic bomb of speculation it created on the tubes, Project Director and Lead Designer Josh Sawyer and Senior Producer Jason Bergman took to Bethesda's Fallout forum. Below is a list of details gleaned from PC Gamer and the comments from Bergman and Sawyer on the forum:

The game is set in the Mojave wastelands, and Vegas itself is largely intact.

You don't play a vault dweller. Instead, you're a courier that's saved by a former vault dweller.

Three factions are at war in the game: Caesar's Legion, the New California Republic, and New Vegas.

In addition to karma, reputation is tracked in the game. All three factions will either see you as good or bad toward them individually.

Dialogue will be handled a bit differently, with skills having a bigger effect on conversation choices. Said Sawyer: "Each skill-based dialogue option has two different texts, one for high skill (which will result in success) and one for low skill (which will result in failure)."

There will be a hardcore mode where the character must drink water to stay alive, ammo has weight, and healing isn't instant. Said Sawyer: "A lot of the things in Hardcore mode are also things that I personally wanted to play the game with. I realize not everyone does, but it's the only way I play it."

There are special moves for melee weapons in VATS.

The Hoover Dam is in the game and supplies electricity to the city.

Area 51 may or may not be in the game. Said Bergman: "We did not show it or confirm whether or not it's in there. I'm not saying it is or isn't, just that we haven't said either way."